Presidential Documents

103617 

Federal Register 

Vol. 89, No. 244 

Thursday, December 19, 2024 

Title 3— 

The President 

Proclamation 10873 of December 16, 2024 

Establishment of the Frances Perkins National Monument 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

Few Americans have had deeper influence in shaping labor and social 

policy in the United States than Frances Perkins. Perkins became the first 

woman to serve as a Cabinet Secretary when President Franklin Delano 

Roosevelt appointed her as the Secretary of Labor in 1933. During the 

subsequent 12 years, Secretary Perkins played a pivotal role in constructing 

the New Deal and helping to guide the country out of the Great Depression 

by designing and leading the implementation of sweeping labor and economic 

reforms that have made life better for generations of Americans. The longest 

serving Secretary of Labor in United States history, Secretary Perkins was 

the architect of many programs and standards—including a minimum wage, 

overtime pay, unemployment insurance, and prohibitions on child labor— 

that have endured as the backbone of Federal support for workers and 

families and continue to benefit millions of Americans today. Secretary 

Perkins chaired President Roosevelt’s effort to investigate the benefits of 

social insurance and then worked to achieve passage of the Social Security 

Act, which became one of the most successful programs in the United 

States to prevent poverty among older adults. When the United States and 

other nations initially failed to face the horrors of the Holocaust, Secretary 

Perkins demonstrated leadership on behalf of immigrants and refugees by 

actively working to bring Jewish children and adults from Europe to the 

United States to ensure their safety. 

The Perkins Homestead in Newcastle, Maine, played a pivotal role in Frances 

Perkins’ life and supported her work to deliver lasting protection and benefits 

to American workers and families. The rural setting of the Perkins Homestead 

on the Damariscotta River was the place she felt most at home. She spent 

her childhood summers there and returned frequently for respite throughout 

her career. Continuously owned by her family for over 260 years, the Perkins 

Homestead remains much as it was during Secretary Perkins’ lifetime, including the buildings, structures, gardens, and paths where she spent substantial 

time throughout her life. The core area contains historic structures including 

a brick house, an attached barn, a gravel driveway, a garden, and portions 

of a stone wall. The surrounding landscape of the Perkins Homestead contains 

additional portions of the stone wall, an ice pond, walking trails, a family 

cemetery, foundations of the 18th and 19th century Perkins Homestead 

buildings, and remnants of a pre-Revolutionary era garrison. Visitors to 

the Perkins Homestead today can wander through these places where Perkins 

returned time and again during her Government service. They can view 

the stone wall where she sat listening to the radio on September 1, 1939, 

when it was reported that the Germans invaded Poland, prompting her 

to rush back to Washington, DC, to assist the President. Preserving the 

core area of the Perkins Homestead and its associated historic objects will 

ensure that current and future generations have the opportunity to learn 

about Secretary Perkins’ foundational contributions to the Nation’s social 

and labor policy through the place that helped shape her as a person 

and support her throughout her extraordinary career. 

Frances Perkins was born in Boston as Fannie Coralie Perkins in 1880. 

At the age of 25, she changed her name to Frances Perkins, which she 


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used for the rest of her life, even after marriage. She graduated in 1902 

from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where she credited a class 

trip to a nearby mill with inspiring her early interest in improving working 

conditions for women and children. 

After college, Frances Perkins worked with social service organizations in 

Chicago and Philadelphia, including settlement houses for poor and unemployed people and an organization to support and protect immigrant and 

Black women and girls from labor and sexual exploitation they faced upon 

arrival in these cities looking for work. These experiences deepened her 

resolve to help reduce poverty and support the working poor. 

In 1911, while employed at the New York City Consumers’ League, Frances 

Perkins heard the sirens of fire engines racing to put out flames that had 

engulfed the nearby Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Running to the site of 

the fire, she witnessed the horrific scene of workers, mostly young women, 

jumping to their deaths after being locked in the factory. In total, 146 

people died in the fire—including many immigrant workers. Perkins later 

cited that tragic day as the impetus for policies that would become central 

to the New Deal. 

Perkins’ subsequent work at the New York Factory Investigating Commission, 

where she investigated and advocated for worker health and safety reforms, 

led to 33 new State laws that improved worker safety, workplace sanitation, 

and working conditions; provided workers’ compensation; and placed limits 

on child labor. These were some of the first workplace health and safety 

standards in the Nation, and they became models that other States and 

the Federal Government adopted. 

In 1919, Perkins was named to the New York State Industrial Commission, 

making her the first woman appointed to serve in a New York State government administration. In 1929, newly elected Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Perkins to become the State’s Industrial Commissioner and 

oversee the labor department. As the United States careened toward the 

Great Depression, Perkins used her position to shine a national spotlight 

on rising unemployment while also helping workers in New York and elsewhere by connecting them to jobs through a State employment service 

and inviting surrounding States to participate in an unemployment insurance 

system. Her early warnings regarding the depth of the Nation’s economic 

problems and her work to develop solutions established Perkins as a national 

leader in the 20th century employment and labor reform movements. 

When President Roosevelt formally asked Perkins to join his Cabinet as 

Secretary of Labor, she responded by saying that if she accepted the position, 

she intended to execute an ambitious plan of action that included establishing 

maximum hours and minimum wages, ending child labor, developing unemployment relief through public works, providing unemployment insurance, 

and creating an old-age pension and a national health insurance program. 

After detailing her plan, she asked if President Roosevelt was sure he wanted 

this list of policies put in place, explaining that, ‘‘you won’t want me 

for Secretary of Labor if you don’t want those things done.’’ President 

Roosevelt responded that he would back her; he had promised the American 

people that he would improve their lives, and he intended to keep his 

promise. 

At a time when few women were in leadership positions and just 13 years 

after the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, Frances Perkins 

became Secretary of Labor. During an unprecedented 12 years in the position—from 1933 to 1945—Secretary Perkins achieved hard-fought social and 

economic reforms, often over vocal opposition and personal attacks from 

critics. She summarized her work in a five-page letter to President Roosevelt, 

describing the reforms as ‘‘a turning point in our national life—a turning 

from careless neglect of human values and toward an order . . . of mutual 

and practical benevolence within a free competitive industrial economy.’’ 

The list of accomplishments detailed in her letter encompasses many programs and laws that continue to undergird the Nation’s economy and social 


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safety net, including establishing Social Security and contributing to the 

development of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Walsh-Healey Public 

Contracts Act. She also helped create millions of jobs across the country 

through the novel Civilian Conservation Corps and Public Works Administration. 

As Secretary of Labor, Perkins often supported the rights of workers to 

organize unions and to negotiate with employers through collective action, 

laying the foundation for the rebirth of American labor—including through 

helping write recovery legislation that provided a right to collective bargaining and laid the groundwork for the National Labor Relations Act of 

1935 (also known as the Wagner Act). She used her post not only to 

advance labor protections in national policy, but also to call personally 

for workers’ fair treatment and access to the halls of power. She persuaded 

President Roosevelt not to deploy Federal troops to quell the 1934 San 

Francisco General Strike, and instead encouraged the parties to settle their 

differences, which was accomplished within a week, and she frequently 

advised President Roosevelt to help resolve contentious strikes for the benefit 

of workers. 

At the close of her time at the Department of Labor, Perkins had accomplished 

nearly all of the items in the ambitious plan she laid out for President 

Roosevelt when he asked her to serve, but she lamented the one exception: 

health care benefits for American workers. Historians have also noted that, 

because of deep racial inequities and injustices of the time—including segregation—the benefits of the New Deal were not available to all Americans 

initially. 

When her time as Secretary of Labor concluded, Perkins continued in public 

service as President Harry Truman’s appointee to the United States Civil 

Service Commission, a post she held from 1945 until 1953. She then became 

a lecturer at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations 

at Cornell University, a role she held until her death in 1965. 

When Secretary Perkins died, the Secretary of Labor at the time, W. Willard 

Wirtz, recognized her legacy as central to the New Deal, stating that ‘‘every 

man and woman in America who works at a living wage, under safe conditions, for reasonable hours, or who is protected by unemployment insurance 

or social security is her debtor.’’ The final resting place of Secretary Perkins 

is near her daughter, husband, sister, parents, and grandparents in the 

Glidden Cemetery, located a half mile north of the Perkins Homestead in 

Newcastle, Maine. 

Throughout Perkins’ life and career, the Perkins Homestead served as a 

place of rejuvenation and reflection, including during her time as Secretary 

of Labor. Throughout her working life, she continued the family tradition 

of summer visits to Maine, often living there with her daughter from August 

into September. Perkins and her sister became joint owners of the property 

in 1927 and it stayed within the family until 2020. Perkins wrote about 

how the woods surrounding the brick house and the shoreline at the Perkins 

Homestead’s edge restored and comforted her, and how the brick house 

provided a place for her to relax and to recover from her work as Secretary 

of Labor. 

The Perkins Homestead, originally over 200 acres, was settled by Perkins’ 

great-great grandfather in the early 1700s. A mid-18th century garrison existed 

on the property that was in use for 3 years during the French and Indian 

War. 

The core area, on the west end of the Perkins Homestead, has a brick 

house built by the Perkins family in 1837 along with a connected barn. 

The two-story home is constructed of bricks manufactured on site at the 

family brickyard. The east end of the Perkins Homestead borders the 

Damariscotta River and has a family cemetery, foundations of the 18th 

and 19th century Perkins Homestead buildings, the remains of the brick 

kilns, wharves, and a clay pit from the 19th century brickyard, as well 


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as the remains of the garrison. Agricultural fields, pastures, woodland, and 

planted trees connect the two sides of the Perkins Homestead. 

The National Park Service first documented the Perkins Homestead through 

the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1960, while Secretary Perkins 

still occupied the home. In 2009, the National Park Service listed the Brick 

House Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places; the Brick 

House Historic District included the brick house, adjacent structures, and 

the wooded and agricultural lands extending to the shoreline of the 

Damariscotta River. In 2014, the Secretary of the Interior designated this 

same 57 acres as the Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark, recognizing the property’s historic importance and nationally significant association with Frances Perkins. 

The Perkins Homestead contains several objects that reflect Secretary Perkins’ 

lifelong commitment to supporting and protecting American workers. Hanging above a doorway in the brick house is a custom ‘‘No Smoking’’ sign 

that reflects the lasting influence the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire had 

on Perkins. It reads: ‘‘Please Do Not SMOKE In Any Part of This Building. 

DANGEROUS. F. Perkins.’’ The brick house also includes Secretary Perkins’ 

Award for Distinguished Service, which the Department of Labor presented 

to her on March 4, 1963, on the occasion of the Department’s 50th anniversary. The Award citation reads: ‘‘For her courage in entering an arena 

previously considered a masculine domain; for her strength in guiding the 

Department through a dozen years of domestic stress and international travail; 

for her spirit in waging the good fight for good objectives; and finally, 

for herself.’’ 

Conserving the Perkins Homestead will ensure that the family home and 

surrounding landscape that were a constant source of support for Secretary 

Perkins will remain protected and accessible in perpetuity for the benefit 

of all people to learn about her life, her unparalleled contributions to labor 

and social policy that would eventually benefit generations of Americans, 

and core principles at the heart of the New Deal that she championed: 

economic security and dignity for workers. 

WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (the ‘‘Antiquities 

Act’’), authorizes the President, in the President’s discretion, to declare 

by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated 

on land owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national 

monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits 

of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper 

care and management of the objects to be protected; and 

WHEREAS, the Perkins Homestead was designated a National Historic Landmark on August 25, 2014, establishing its national significance as the ancestral home and lifelong summer residence of Frances Perkins, the first woman 

to serve as a Cabinet Secretary and one of our Nation’s most influential 

and effective public servants whose legacy includes the historic New Deal; 

and 

WHEREAS, the Frances Perkins Center has been managing and preserving 

the approximately 57-acre Perkins Homestead, including the objects identified above and additional archives and collections illustrating the historic 

value of this site, and has expressed support for inclusion of the Perkins 

Homestead in the National Park System; and 

WHEREAS, the Frances Perkins Center has donated to the Federal Government for the purpose of establishing a unit of the National Park System 

fee interest in the core area comprising approximately 2.3 acres of land 

in Newcastle, Maine, which includes several historic objects associated with 

the Perkins Homestead and Perkins’ life located on this site, including 

the brick house, the connected barn, and portions of the stone wall; and 

WHEREAS, in support of the establishment of a national monument to 

be administered by the National Park Service, the Frances Perkins Center 


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has also indicated its intent to develop a partnership with the National 

Park Service to help manage, oversee, interpret, maintain, and protect the 

Perkins Homestead (including the core area) and the historic objects it 

contains as appropriate; and 

WHEREAS, the Frances Perkins Center has indicated an interest in donating 

a majority of the remaining approximately 54.7 acres of the 57-acre Perkins 

Homestead to the Federal Government in the future; and 

WHEREAS, the designation of a national monument to be administered 

by the National Park Service would recognize the historic significance of 

Frances Perkins and her role in the New Deal, particularly her contributions 

to social welfare, safe working conditions, and protection of workers’ health 

and well-being, and would provide a national platform for preserving and 

interpreting this important history; and 

WHEREAS, I find that all the objects identified above, and objects of the 

type identified above within the area described herein, are objects of historic 

interest in need of protection under section 320301 of title 54, United 

States Code, regardless of whether they are expressly identified as objects 

of historic interest in the text of this proclamation; and 

WHEREAS, I find that the boundaries of the monument reserved by this 

proclamation represent the smallest area compatible with the proper care 

and management of the objects of historic interest identified above, as required by the Antiquities Act; and 

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the objects 

of historic interest associated with the Perkins Homestead in Maine; 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States 

of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, 

United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are 

situated on lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal 

Government to be part of the Frances Perkins National Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part thereof 

all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Government 

of the United States within the boundaries described on the accompanying 

map, which is attached to and forms a part of this proclamation. The 

monument’s boundaries are coextensive with the Perkins Homestead National 

Historic Landmark boundaries, and the reserved Federal lands and interests 

in lands within the monument’s boundaries comprise approximately 2.3 

acres. 

All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of the monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, leasing, or other disposition under the public land 

laws, including withdrawal from location, entry, and patent under the mining 

laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal 

leasing. 

The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights. Specifically, the Frances Perkins Center retains reserved rights to occupy and 

use the premises; complete preservation, maintenance, and renovation work; 

and store and maintain artifacts currently located in the brick house. These 

reserved rights shall expire not later than 25 years after the date of this 

proclamation. 

If the Federal Government acquires any lands or interests in lands not 

owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands shall 

be reserved as part of the monument, and objects of the type identified 

above that are situated upon those lands and interests in lands shall be 

part of the monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by the 

Federal Government. 

The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the National Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities and consistent 


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with the purposes and provisions of this proclamation. For the purpose 

of preserving, interpreting, and enhancing the public understanding and 

appreciation of the monument, the Secretary of the Interior, through the 

National Park Service, shall prepare a management plan for the monument. 

The management plan shall ensure that the monument fulfills the following 

purposes for the benefit of present and future generations: (1) to preserve 

the historic objects and other resources within the boundaries of the monument, and (2) to interpret in its entirety the story of Frances Perkins and 

the history of the New Deal, including the impact Perkins had as the first 

woman Cabinet Secretary; the complexities of Perkins as an individual and 

of her ideas, perspectives, and views; and her role in advancing hallmark 

labor, economic, and social reform within the historical and political context 

of the early-to-mid 20th century. 

The National Park Service shall consult with appropriate Federal, State, 

and local agencies; local communities; nongovernmental organizations; and 

the general public in the region of the monument—including the Frances 

Perkins Center and the Damariscotta River Association—in developing the 

management plan for the monument, which shall include resource management, interpretation and education, visitor access, and services at the monument. The National Park Service shall also consult on all aspects of the 

management plan with the Penobscot Nation and other Wabanaki Peoples, 

whose ancestral lands include areas in Maine near the monument. 

The National Park Service is directed, as appropriate, to use applicable 

authorities to seek to enter into agreements with other entities, including 

the Frances Perkins Center, to address common interests and promote management efficiencies, including the provision of visitor services, interpretation 

and education, establishment and care of museum collections, and preservation of historic objects. 

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the monument shall be the 

dominant reservation. 

Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, 

injure, destroy, or remove any feature of the monument and not to locate 

or settle upon any of the lands thereof. 

If any provision of this proclamation, including its application to a particular 

parcel of land, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation 

and its application to other parcels of land shall not be affected thereby. 


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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day 

of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of 

the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 

forty-ninth. 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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[FR Doc. 2024–30485 

Filed 12–18–24; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 4310–10–C 


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-Trail 

•••••• Stone Wall 

1111111 Perkins Homestead Building 

i;::;:J Foundation 

DATE: December 2024 

ii 

US Feet 

450 

North